Annette Birkin
Dr. Annette Vivian Birkin (née Boyd) was a virologist employed by Umbrella USA, and one of the administrators at their NEST facility beneath Raccoon City. She was the wife of fellow administrator Dr. William Birkin, and mother of Sherry Birkin. Biology Early Life Annette was born on January 14th, 1984 in Raccoon City. Little is known of Annette's early life other than the fact that she attended and excelled at Raccoon City University and her training as a virologist which earned her a career at Umbrella USA's Arklay Laboratory, under the head of research, Dr. William Birkin. The two started dating then later married in around 2006. On September 6, 2008, Annette had given birth to their daughter, Sherry. In the early 2010s, Annette and William began working as administrators at the newly-constructed NEST facility, where research into Golgotha was pioneered. Due to Annette's busy work schedules (along with her husband), their relationship with their daughter Sherry was strained, due to the fact that they frequently neglected her. When they weren't able to make it home, Annette would either hire a babysitter or some of their colleagues to look after Sherry. There are also times that both Annette and William have forgotten completely and Sherry ends up at home by herself. Since both Annette and William were one of Umbrella's top virologists, it's been shown that they are quite wealthy. They were senior researchers on the G-Virus Project, a eugenics project that oversaw the creation of Golgotha, a Progenitor strain they believed could be used to improve the human race. The Birkins lived in a three storey modern home (being arguably the largest house of the neighborhood) and were able to afford for Sherry to attend a private school. On Sherry's ninth birthday, Annette entrusted her with a special locket for safe keeping, disguised as her ninth birthday present, which was actually related to the Birkins' research. Sometime in 2018, Annette was found and interviewed by journalist Ben Bertolucci who was supposed to be talking about the new scholarship Umbrella set up but the reporter changed the subject and started asking her about the rumours of the orphanage, G-Virus and the passage to Umbrella's underground lab but Annette blew him off and terminated the conversation. Raccoon City Destruction Incident In the months after the minor viral outbreak in the Arklay Laboratory, the Birkins’ relationship with Umbrella HQ deteriorated. After attempts to defund the project and remove them from the NEST, the facility began to operate independently. The two were able to strike a deal with the U.S. military to surrender Golgotha to them for their own bioweapons project. Umbrella HQ’s own spies within the military discovered this, and on the night of Saturday September 22nd, 2018, the USS finally raided the lab and shot William after he refused to hand his research over and attempted to resist arrest. Annette arrived too late to stop him infecting himself with a Golgotha sample, and without the DEVIL antibody to stabilize his mutations, he became a powerful creature simply dubbed as “G.” As Annette fled, “G” found and killed the attackers, but released the t-Virus into the sewers in the process. This eventually spread to the drinking water. As the t-Virus showed itself on Monday, September 24, it reached a critical mass that eventually turned over a million residents into mutants and/or zombies, overwhelming the efforts and resources by the Raccoon Police Department, S.W.A.T. and Raccoon Fire Department to suppress the outbreak. Role in Resident Hero Protecting the Research Over the course of the week, Annette left the NEST as its research subjects began escaping, and left to their sewer facility to analyze the build-up of “G” organisms that had made the underground their home. On the late night of September 29, Annette remained in the facility, where she was soon confronted by police officer Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong, with the latter claiming to be an FBI agent investigating Annette. The two had entered the sewer facility to claim her Golgotha research, with Kennedy kept under the impression Annette was the cause of the t-Virus outbreak. Annette grabbed her handgun out and attempted to kill Ada, telling them that they'll never get their hands on the G-Virus but Leon jumped in the way, taking the bullet to his upper left shoulder. Somewhat taken aback by Leon's action, Annette flees and closes the reinforced door when Ada tried to return fire. Ada continued to investigate the underground facility and found herself inside a furnace after seeing an ID Wristband. However, Annette catches Ada and closes the heavy reinforced door, locking her inside. Ada warns Annette that she's not the only one after the G-Virus research but Annette coldly states that "she won't die alone" before activating the furnace. As Annette left, Ada was able to escape by using her EMF Visualizer to disable the furnace and open the door. Finding Sherry and Meeting Survivors Later on, in the early hours of Sunday September 30, Annette encountered three more survivors; being Claire Redfield, Christopher Kent and later her daughter Sherry. Moments before, they have entered the underground facility in order to escape the streets but during an incident with their encounter with the Tyrant and the G-creature William, the elevator the trio were in plummeted to the bottom. Fortunately, Claire and Sherry survived due to Chris protecting them and absorbing the brunt of the impact but he and Claire were knocked out. Sherry attempted to get either of them to wake up but ran off scared upon hearing large footsteps. She soon trips over and lands hard, knocking her out. At this point, Sherry was eventually found by “G” and parasitised without anyone's knowledge. Chris recovered shortly before Claire did and were met by Annette who has found them at the crash site. The two try to ask Annette to help them find Sherry but she purposely avoids their questions. When they persist, Annette is not friendly and becomes aggravated, telling them that her daughter is none of their business before hastily walking off. Annette later finds a passed out Sherry and likely carries her away, then locks her inside a garbage disposal room for her own safety. Hardships When Sherry awakens, Annette is outside of the garbage disposal room, on the upper level's observation room. Annette is monitoring her daughter through a security camera and angrily scolds and interrogates her through the P.A. system. Sherry begs to go home but Annette states to her that she cannot leave until her work is done. During this, Chris and Claire eventually found and watched her on the outside but Sherry nor Annette doesn't notice them, due to the fact that they're in a different observation room. Annette continues to angrily scold Sherry, telling her that she should have went back, stayed in the house and called the police. An upset Sherry tries to rebuttal but Annette doesn't want to hear it and shut her out, wanting to finish her work. Unbeknownst to Annette, Sherry starts to feel worse right away, doubling over in pain before collapsing and passing out. Unlikely Allies Claire and Chris eventually find their way around and open the large door of the garbage disposal in order to save Sherry. They came to Sherry’s aid while telling Annette that they were trying to help. She responds and says that “Sherry’s been implanted and can’t be saved.” This angered the two that Annette is willing to give up on her own daughter so easily. Claire is able to convince Annette to change her mind and the latter acquiesced, realizing that Sherry’s eventual mutation into a similar creature would be a threat to millions. She gives them the location of the NEST lab and reveals that there is a cure that will reverse the effects of the G-Virus. Chris carried Sherry while Claire followed, with Sherry's ID wristband granting them access to use the cable car. Confronting her Husband Just before Claire and Chris fight William a third time, Annette arrives and takes it out with anti-BOWs as well as confirming that it was indeed her husband. The creature recovers and attacks Annette, throwing her into a wall at great force. Annette is fatally wounded but she defiantly gets up. Claire gives her the antiviral agent and sends her off to treat Sherry while the two remained behind to battle the creature. Curing Sherry and Death A badly wounded but determined Annette eventually makes it to the security-medical bay and successfully gives Sherry the vaccine, thus curing her of the G-Virus. Chris and Claire eventually made it back to Sherry who has been fully cured and a bleeding Annette. As she soon succumbs to her wounds, she asks her daughter for forgiveness for neglecting her all those years before telling all of them that the facility will self-destruct in order to prevent the G-Virus from leaving the building and gives Claire her ‘Level IV Admin’ chip in order to escape. Annette dies seconds later and Sherry cries and sobs, hugging her mother's body and kissing her on the cheek. The NEST facility began to self-destruct. Claire and Sherry escaped the facility while Chris flew off into Earth’s atmosphere to regain his full power. (Aside from this, his role is largely similar as how it was in the video game; Resident Evil 2 2019 remake.) Personality Annette comes across as a busy, cynical, rude, ignorant and uncaring workaholic, though not quite to the extent of her husband William. Although Annette and William fell in love in each other and had a daughter together, they still shown that their work was more important. Annette (at times) tells her daughter Sherry that she loves her, but she seldom openly shows it. Annette cared enough to hire a babysitter or one of their colleagues at Umbrella to look after Sherry but there will also be times that she would forget completely and Sherry ends up at home by herself. This would continue over the years as Sherry grew up. In events that Annette did have time to spend with her daughter, she would use that to teach Sherry basic things like catching the bus, calling the police, using certain household appliances among other things, possibly because she wants her to be self-reliant. When Annette finds that William had infected himself with a G sample after getting shot, she picks up his handgun and aims it at him but couldn't bring herself to take the shot, even having tears in her eyes upon watching William stumble around with the effects of G taking place. Annette swiftly makes a run for it and abandons him, possibly out of guilt for not being around to prevent her husband from doing this to himself. Annette has also shown to have a dark, hostile and even sadistic side to her personality, showing that she was more than willing to kill anyone (such as Ada) in order to protect her husband's research (first by shooting then by attempting to incinerate her in a furnace). However, this was mainly because she could tell that Ada wasn't "FBI" but was really a mercenary. Annette was also less hostile to Leon as for one, she hastily ran away when she ended up shooting him instead of Ada and later, when encountering a patched up Leon, she requested him to destroy any samples of the G-Virus and warned him about Ada. Annette wasn't as hostile when encountering Christopher Kent and Claire Redfield who already met and knew Sherry but she nonetheless told them to stay away from her daughter, possibly because she doesn't want them involved in this mess or that she didn't trust strangers to be with Sherry. Annette once again showed to be uncaring and unsympathetic, even going so far to lock her own daughter in a garbage disposal room for her safety while interrogating and scolding her for not doing "the right thing" despite the fact Sherry had very good reasons. When an upset Sherry tried to explain, Annette wasn't in the mood and continued with her work. However, when Annette came back and found Sherry that collapsed, she was genuinely concerned just as Claire and Chris arrived to save Sherry. Annette abysmal attitude was briefly shown again, when she states that Sherry is infected cannot be saved. However, Claire cussing and Chris' reprimanding at Annette causes her to change her mind and reveal that there is a cure for the G-Virus. Annette is seemingly somewhat thankful that there were persistently good and caring people to help her daughter. When Annette later talks about her relationship with her husband, she flat out admits to Claire and Chris "we were more married to our work than each other." Both of the Birkin family photos shows that William and Annette had flat, uncaring expressions on their faces while Sherry was the only one smiling. When encountering her mutated husband, Annette took it upon herself to personally stop the mutated William; even at the cost of her own life. During Annette's final breaths, she asks Sherry for forgiveness for neglecting her all those years. Annette also trusted Claire to take care of Sherry, knowing that Claire will do a better job than she did. Although Annette could be considered a bad parent due to her apathetic attitude and the way she treats Sherry, she had redeemed herself in a way by personally giving her daughter the vaccine and apologizing before dying. Abilities/Skills * Genius-Level Intellect/Master Scientist: Annette has excelled in her studies back at when she had attended university. Due to her training as a virologist, she was proven to have an impressive record, allowing her to be hired by Dr. William Birkin at Arklay’s Laboratory. It is possible that she contributed to making Golgotha and its cure as well as the knowledge on how to administer the treatment for “G” properly. * Skilled Markswoman: Annette has shown some skill in using firearms. As such, she was confident in her abilities to take down a trained Ada Wong and was able to hit the G-creature with multiple anti-BOW rounds from a distance. Strength Level Annette possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in occasional exercise. Equipment * Tablet PC: A 2018 Microsoft Surface Go model. Annette was briefly seen using it to take notes at the elevator crash site. * Flare Gun: A flare gun that is also compatible with anti-BOW rounds. She used it against William’s G-creature form. * Glock Handgun: Annette owned a standard issue Glock handgun and used it against Ada in attempt to kill her but Leon jumped in front of her and took the bullet in the shoulder. Relationships Family * William Birkin † – Husband and Eventual Killer * Sherry Birkin – Daughter Friends/Allies * Claire Redfield – Reluctant Ally and daughter's savior * Christopher Kent/Superman II – Reluctant Ally and daughter's savior * Leon S. Kennedy - Monitor turned Reluctant Ally Enemies * Ada Wong - Monitor and Attempted Victim * Ben Bertolucci † - Interviewer and Possible attempted exposer Trivia * In the Resident Evil 2 Remake Video Game, Annette is voiced by Karen Strassman ** Annette's 3D Scan Face Model is Malgorzata Dittmar. * Annette's death happens exactly like it does in the RE2make but in the Resident Hero headcanon, William throws her more quickly instead of taking a few seconds to squeeze her before throwing. * Her face appears somewhat more elongated with slightly sunken eyeballs, giving her a more aged or haggard appearance. She is shown holding a lit cigarette in her official RE2make concept art, implying she is a smoker. * In both RE2make and Resident Hero, Annette flat out admits to Claire "we were more married to our work than each other." The Birkin family photo mentioned shows William and Annette with flat, uncaring expressions while Sherry is the only one actually smiling. * The Birkins (both William and Annette) could be compared to the Dursleys from Harry Potter or the Wormwoods from Matilda. Especially because they cared more about their work, research and other things rather than their own daughter Sherry. ** In the Dursleys' case, they spoiled their biological son Dudley but treated their nephew Harry badly. ** In the Wormwoods' case, they cared about their son Michael and money among other things, but not so much with Matilda. In fact, they frequently neglected her and left her at home alone. Category:Resident Evil Characters Category:Females Category:Humans Category:Anti-Heroes Category:Redeemed Category:Scientists Category:Supporting Characters Category:Capcom Characters Category:Civilians Category:Deceased Characters